The Best of the Animals
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedFebruary 1966 (1966-02)
Recorded22 January 1964  10 September 1965
GenreRock, blues rock, British R&B
Length33:25
LabelMGM
ProducerMickie Most
The Animals U.S. chronology
Animal Tracks
(1965)
The Best of the Animals
(1966)
Animalization
(1966)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

The Best of The Animals is the first greatest hits collection by the British rock group the Animals. MGM Records released the album in February 1966 in the United States. It showcases the Animals' tough-edged pop hits combined with their more devoted blues and R&B workouts. The album has been reissued with some different tracks and a similar collection, The Most of Animals, was released in the United Kingdom in 1966.

History

This was the first Animals album to feature new keyboardist Dave Rowberry in its photographs. Liner notes by Record Beat's June Harris extolled the musical and cultural virtues of the group and emphasized how close she was to the group. However, overall copyediting was poor and three of the members' names were misspelled.

The album was a great commercial success in the U.S., peaking at number six on the Billboard 200, the highest such mark of their career, and remaining on the chart for over two years.[2] By July 1966 it had been certified as a gold record, their only album ever to attain that status.[3]

In his 1979 volume Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island, famed rock critic Greil Marcus selected The Best of the Animals for inclusion on same, writing: "This was trash R&B from Newcastle, England, and especially when the focus shifted from American blues to savage pleas for release from working-class slums, more powerful than it had any right to be."[4] In 1997, Rolling Stone magazine placed The Best of the Animals into the 1960s section of its Rolling Stone 200: The Essential Rock Collection list.[5]

Other compilation albums by the same name (and sometimes even the same cover), but different contents have appeared over the years.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."It's My Life" (Single A-Side, 1965)
  • Roger Atkins
  • Carl D'Errico
10 September 19653:09
2."Gonna Send You Back to Walker" (B-Side of "Baby Let Me Take You Home", 1964)12 February 19642:20
3."Bring It On Home to Me" (Single A-side, 1965)Sam Cooke20 March 19652:40
4."I'm Mad Again" (From The Animals, 1964)John Lee Hooker31 July 19644:15
5."The House of the Rising Sun" (Full length version, originally released as a single A-Side in edited form, 1964)Traditional, arranged by Alan Price18 May 19644:29
Total length:16:53
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."We Gotta Get out of This Place" (US single A-Side version, 1965)15 June 19653:17
2."Boom Boom" (Single A-Side, 1964)John Lee Hooker22 January 19642:57
3."I'm in Love Again" (From The Animals, 1964)31 July 19642:59
4."Roberta" (From Animal Tracks, 1965)16 November 19642:04
5."I'm Crying" (Single A-Side, 1964)
31 July 19642:49
6."Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Single A-Side, 1965)16 November 19642:26
Total length:16:32

1987 CD reissue

Presumably their first compilation on CD, it featured the same album cover and the same hit singles as their original 1966 US collection, but had more and different other tracks. It was later re-issued in 2000 & 2014 and is the version featured on streaming.

  1. "The House of the Rising Sun"
  2. "I'm Crying"
  3. "Baby Let Me Take You Home"
  4. "Around and Around"
  5. "Talkin' 'bout You"
  6. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
  7. "Boom Boom"
  8. "Dimples"
  9. "We Gotta Get Out of This Place (UK Version)"
  10. "I'm in Love Again"
  11. "Bury My Body"
  12. "Gonna Send You Back to Walker"
  13. "Story of Bo Diddley"
  14. "It's My Life"
  15. "Bring It On Home to Me"

1997 reissue

The album contains many of their hits from the mid-1960s, including "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The first 12 tracks are the same as the 1971 UK compilation The Most of Animals.[6][7][8][9][10]

  1. "The House of the Rising Sun" (Traditional, arr. Alan Price) – 4:32
  2. "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) – 3:15
  3. "Road Runner" (Bo Diddley) – 2:51
  4. "Let the Good Times Roll" (Leonard Lee) – 1:56
  5. "Hallelujah I Love Her So" (Ray Charles) – 2:48
  6. "I'm Going to Change the World" (Eric Burdon) – 3:37
  7. "Bring It On Home to Me" (Sam Cooke) – 2:45
  8. "Worried Life Blues" (M. Merriweather, Wabash) – 4:13
  9. "Baby Let Me Take You Home" (Bob Russell, Wes Farrell) – 2:22
  10. "For Miss Caulker" (Eric Burdon) – 3:59
  11. "I Believe to My Soul" (Ray Charles, Alan Learner) – 3:25
  12. "How You've Changed" (Chuck Berry) – 3:15
  13. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus, Gloria Caldwell) – 2:30
  14. "It's My Life" (Roger Atkins, Carl D'Errico) – 3:09
  15. "Club-A-Gogo" (Eric Burdon, Alan Price) – 2:22
  16. "I'm Crying" (Alan Price, Eric Burdon) – 2:48
  17. "Boom Boom" (John Lee Hooker) – 3:18
  18. "Memphis Tennessee" (Chuck Berry) – 3:07
  19. "Story of Bo Diddley" (Bo Diddley) – 5:43
  20. "Dimples" (John Lee Hooker) – 3:17

Personnel

The Animals

References

  1. AllMusic review
  2. "The Animals Biography". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved 17 February 2007.
  3. "RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
  4. Marcus, Greil (1979). Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island (paperback). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 255. ISBN 0-394-73827-6.
  5. "Rolling Stone 200: The Essential Rock Collection". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  6. Eder, Bruce. "The Best of the Animals [Abkco]". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  7. "Best of The Animals". amazon.com. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  8. "The Best of the Animals [Abkco]". barnesandnoble.com. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  9. robo2448. "The Best of the Animals". sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2 January 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. "Best of the Animals CD". cduniverse.com. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
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